1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an optical low pass filter that may be used in conjunction with an image-capturing element or the like and a camera having the optical low pass filter.
2. Description of Related Art
A subject image is captured with a solid state image-capturing element that may be a CCD element, a MOS element or the like in an electronic camera such as a digital still camera or a video camera. As light-receiving pixels are arrayed in a regular pattern in such an image-capturing element, the array pattern with which the light-receiving pixels are arranged and the pattern in the subject image tend to induce phenomena such as moire fringes and color artifact. Under normal circumstances, an optical low pass filter constituted with a birefringent plate made of quartz, lithium niobate (LiNBO3) or the like is disposed to the front of the image-capturing element in order to eliminate the adverse effects of these phenomena. In addition, another solution whereby the image-capturing element is caused to vibrate within the image-capturing plane (Japanese Laid Open Patent Publication No. H6-189318) has been proposed as an alternative to the use of an optical low pass filter made of quartz or the like.